Part 5

The second grand Objection against the _Presbyteriall-Government_, is, that it requires all, of all sorts, to come to the _Minister_ and _Elders_ to be examined, before they can be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, which is (as some ignorantly say) to bring in auricular confession again into the Church, to bring the people of God into a spirituall slavery and bondage unto the Eldership, and which is an usurpation more then prelaticall, and a tyrannicall domineering over mens consciences, and hath no footing in the Word; for the Scripture saith, _Let a man examine himself, and so let him eate_, &c. It is not said, _Let him first be examined by the Ministers and Elders_: the Scripture addes, _He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself_, not to the Eldership. And why then must a man submit himself unto the examination of the Eldership? and how come the Eldership to be guilty of another mans unworthy receiving? It is further added by some, that for their parts, they will willingly come before the Minister, and submit to his examination, but they will rather for ever be without the Sacrament, then submit to come before the _Lay-Elder_, for whom, they see no warrant in the Word of God: Others say, that they will freely yield that the _younger sort_, that never have received the Sacrament, should present themselves to the _Eldership_ to be catechized, and instructed, and fitted for the Sacrament; but they will never yield, that old men and women, that heretofore have divers times received, should now in their old age be required to come, to be examined not only by their Minister, but by the Elders also, who oftentimes are very unfit for that Office: Others adde, that though some Ministers rigidly keep all from the Sacrament, that will not come before the Elderships; yet there are others, that are _Presbyterians, and have Elders chosen, that act without them_, and will receive us to the Sacrament without comming before them. These, and such like Objections, are brought against this way of Examination, that is so happily begun amongst us. Now that we might satisfie these Objections, and make good our practice out of the Word of God, we shall briefly do these four things.

1. _We will declare what our practice is in this particular._

2. _We will prove, that he that will come to the Sacrament, ought first to submit to examination._

3. _That the power to examine, belongs not to the Minister alone, nor to the Minister with the whole Church, but to the Minister and Elders._

4. _We will answer the Objections, that are brought against this way of examination by the Minister and Elders._

For the first of these, we say;

First, That the _Presbyterial-Government_, doth not precisely & peremptorily require of those that come to the Sacrament, that they should first be examined by questions and answers, but if any man or woman shall make a good profession of their Faith in a continued discourse, without being _asked any questions_, it will be as well accepted, as if they were examined by particular questions.

Secondly, that this _examination_ or _profession_ is not required every time men come to _the Sacrament_, but only _at their first admission_.

3. That he that is duly admitted into compleat _Church-fellowship in the Presbyterian-way_, is not only by vertue of his first admission, freed from all _after-examination_ (unless it be when he falls into any scandalous transgression) in the Congregation, to which he belongs; but he is inabled by a certificate from his Eldership, to receive the Sacrament in any Church of the Christian world of the same constitution, without any new examination.

Fourthly, that the reason why ancient men and women, and others, that have formerly under the _Prelatical Government_ been admitted to the Sacrament, are now required to submit to examination, before they can be again admitted, doth not _proceed from the nature of the Presbyterian Government, but chiefly from the neglect of the Prelaticall_: For it is so evident, that it cannot be denyed, that under the former Government, men and women of all sorts, though never so ignorant or scandalous, were in most places admitted promiscuously to the Sacrament without any examination. Now this grievous disorder, and great iniquity in the Prelatical Government, is the principal cause of all the trouble we meet withal in ours; and we desire earnestly our people to distinguish with us, between a Church deformed, and reformed. If the Churches of God in _England_ were once so reformed, that there were an orderly admission, by examination or profession, unto the Lords Table by the Eldership; then we should require none to come to examination, but such only as never yet communicated, whom we would endeavour to train up in knowledge, by catechizing, and by Gods blessing, make fit in time, to be partakers of such heavenly mysteries. But now because our Churches, through want of Discipline, are deformed, & all sorts have been sinfully admitted without tryal: Hence it is, that we are forced, even out of tender regard to the souls of old people, and to free our selves from the guilt of their sins, and out of desire to keep the Sacrament from prophanation, to examine even aged people (many of whom we find very ignorant) and all sorts as have been formerly admitted (many of whom we find to be very unworthy) that so we may bring our Congregations into Gospel-order. This we say, _we are absolutely necessitated to do upon conscientious grounds, which we cannot recede from, though we find it very prejudiciall to our selves, and to our Government_. But in the mean time, we desire our respective Congregations to consider, that this is a necessity, that the iniquity of former times hath brought upon us; and that it doth not flow from the principles of our Government, but only from the negligence and sinfulness of Prelatical Governours.

The second thing propounded, is to prove, that he that will come to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, ought first to submit to examination, and tryal, as it hath been formerly explained: For this purpose, we will lay down these three Propositions.

1. _It is the Will of Jesus Christ, that no grosly ignorant, or scandalous person should come to the Sacrament._

2. _That it is the Will of Jesus Christ, that those who are grosly ignorant, or scandalous, should be kept from the Sacrament (if they offer to come) by the Officers of the Church._

3. _That it is the Will of Jesus Christ, that Church-Governours have some sufficient way to find out who are such ignorant and scandalous persons, that they may be kept away._

[Sidenote: 1. Proposition.]

_That it is the Will of Jesus Christ, that no grosly ignorant, or scandalous person, should come to the Sacrament._

1. No _grosly ignorant person_, because the Scripture saith, _that a man must first examine himself, and so eat of that bread, and drink of that cup_; and it likewise saith, that he that will come to the Sacrament must be one that _discerneth the Lords body_; otherwise he _eats and drinks damnation to himself_; and it adds, that we are to do this _in remembrance of Christ_, and thereby to _shew forth the Lords death till he come_. And therefore a man that is grosly ignorant, and is not able to examine himself, nor to discern the Lords body, nor to remember Christ; nor understands what it is to shew forth the Lords death, ought not to come to the Sacrament, no more then a baptized Infant, who is therefore not to partake of this Ordinance, because of his want of knowledge.

2. No _scandalous person_: This is evidenced from the words of the Apostle, _Let a man examine himself, & so let him eat_, &c. from which words we gather two things:

1. That he that would come to the Sacrament, _must examine himself_; which examination ought to be according to the nature of the Ordinance of the Lords Supper, _viz._

1. In general; whether he be worthy to come, or no; (not with a _worthinesse of merit_, but of _Evangelical suitablenesse_.)

2. In particular:

1. Whether he have _true Faith in Christ_, without which, he cannot worthily eat this bread, and drink this cup.

2. Whether he _truly repent for sin, and from sin_. For he that comes in any sin unrepented of, comes unclean, and so pollutes the ordinance.

3. Whether he be [76]_truly united by love to Jesus Christ, and his members_; without which, he cannot enjoy communion with them in that ordinance.

2. That he who upon due examination, can find none of these qualifications, should not presume to come, which appears:

1. By the Apostolical command, _But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat; so_, and _not otherwise_.

2. By the sin which he commits, in _being guilty of the body and blood of Christ_, vers. 27.

3. By the _Danger_ he incurres to himself, in _eating and drinking his own damnation_, vers. 29.

2. From the nature of the Sacrament.

1. It is the _table of the Lord, and the Lords Supper_; and consequently the friends, and not the enemies of Christ, are thereto invited.

2. It is an ordinance, wherein we publiquely profess communion with Christ and his mystical body, & if he that comes, be by sin disjoyned from Christ, he is guilty of a _sacrilegious lye against him and his Church_, whilest he professeth himself to be a _friend_, and is _really an enemy_.

3. It is (according to the nature of all Sacraments,) [77]a sealing Ordinance, as is intimated in those remarkable sacramental phrases, _This is my body, this is my blood_, denoting not only a bare sacramental signification, but also a spiritual obsignation and exhibition of Christs body and blood, to a worthy receiver. Now a seal supposeth a writing to which it is annext, or else it is a meer nullity; and certainly Christ never intended to have his Seal put to a blank or counterfeit writing.

4. It is an ordinance appointed for the nourishment of those who are spiritually alive, Christs body & blood being therein conveyed under the Elements of bread & wine; which they only can eat and drink, [78]who are alive by Faith, and not they that are dead in trespasses & sins.

5. It is the _New Testament in the blood of Christ_, that is, _a confirmation of the New Testament_, and of all the promises and priviledges thereof in the blood of Christ, which belong not at all to wicked men, [79]_Godlinesse having the promises of this life, and that which is to come_.

By all which it appears, that it is the Will of Christ, that no scandalous person should come to the Lords table.

[Sidenote: 2. Proposition.]

_That it is the Will of Jesus Christ, that those who are grosly ignorant, or scandalously wicked, should be kept from the Sacrament, (if they offer to come,) by Church-Officers._

And this is evident:

1. _From the power given to Church-Officers for that purpose._

2. _From the evill consequents that will otherwise ensue._

1. That such a power is given to Church-Officers, appears,

Not onely

From the proportionable practice of Church-Officers under the Old Testament, who kept the charge of the holy things of God, and were appointed [80]to see that none who were unclean in any thing, or uncircumcised in flesh, or in heart, should enter into the Temple, to partake of the holy things of God, and [81]had a power to put difference between holy and unholy, which power was not meerly _doctrinall_ or _declarative_, _but decisive, binding_, and _juridicall_, so far, as that according to their sentence, men were to be admitted, or excluded. That there was a power in the Old Testament to keep men from the Sacrament of the Passeover, for morall wickednesse, _vide Aarons_ rod blossoming, lib. 1. cap. 9, 10, &c.

But also,

From that power of Government, and _key of Discipline_, committed by Jesus Christ, to Church-Officers, under the New Testament. For Christ hath given to them the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, which imply not only a key of doctrine, but of discipline, and that both to _keep out such as Christ would not have received in, and to shut out such as Christ would not have to continue in_; The use of a key being for both these purposes. For shutting out those that should not be continued in, as is granted on all hands from divers Scriptures[82]. And consequently, for _keeping out those that should not be received in_, there being the same reason of both. _For to what purpose should such be received in, as are by Christs command immediately to be cast out again._

2. That divers ill consequences will otherwise ensue, if grosly ignorant, and scandalous persons be not kept away, is plain.

1. _Church-Governours should be very unfaithfull Stewards of the Mysteries of Christ, and perverters of his Ordinance._ If a Steward to whom his Lord hath committed his goods to be carefully distributed, to such as are honest, faithfull, and diligent in his field or Vineyard, shall not only admit of _Loyterers_, and such as by their evill example discourage others, but also shall give to such the bread and wages which belongs to them who are faithfull and industrious, should he not be accounted a very unjust and unfaithfull Steward, and an abuser of his trust?

2. _They should be guilty of polluting and prophaning the_ Sacrament. If a Minister should give this Sacrament to an Infant, or to a Mad-man, or to a meer fool; or to a Swine, or a Dog, would not all men say this were a horrible prophanation thereof? _Shall it then seem a small prophanation to give it unto one who is as ignorant as an Infant, and walloweth as a Swine in the mire of sin and uncleanness?_

3. _They should express a great deal of cruelty and inhumanity to the soul of him to whom they give the Sacrament_; because they give it to one who will eat and drink his own damnation.

4. _They will hereby make themselves accessary to his sin of unworthy receiving_; For it is a certain Rule in Divinity; [83]_He that suffers a man to commit sin, when it is in his power to hinder him, is accessory to the sin that that man commits_; as appears by the [84]example of _Eli_: And therefore, if the Officers of the Church that are deputed by Christ to keep grosly ignorant, or scandalous, from the Sacrament, shall yet notwithstanding suffer them to come, and can hinder them, but will not, they themselves become guilty of his sin.

5. _They do hereby grieve the Godly, that are members of the same Congregation, and as much as in them lies, they pollute & defile the whole Congregation: For know you not_, saith the Apostle, _that a little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump?_

6. Adde lastly, that hereby they bring down the _judgments of God upon the Congregation_; according to that text, 1 Cor. 11.30. _For this cause many are sick._

From all this, we argue thus; If Church-Officers under the Old Testament had an authoritative power to separate between the holy and prophane; and if under the New Testament they have a power to keep out from the Sacrament, such as are grosly ignorant, or scandalously wicked; and if it be the Will of Christ, that the Officers of the Church should be faithful Stewards of the Mysteries of Christ, that they should not pervert, nor pollute his Ordinance; that they should not be cruel to the souls of their Brethren, or be partakers of other mens sins, that they should not grieve the Godly, nor bring guilt and judgment upon the Congregation of which they are Officers: Then it is the Will of Christ, that they should not give the Sacrament to such, who are grosly ignorant, and scandalously wicked.

[Sidenote: 3. Proposition.]

_That it is the Will_ of Christ, _that_ Church-Governours _have some sufficient way to discover who are such ignorant and scandalous persons, that they may be kept away_.

This followeth clearly from the two former Proportions. For if it be the Will of Christ, that no grosly ignorant, or scandalous person should come to the Sacrament; and if they offer to come, should be kept back by Church-Officers; then it follows, That they must have sufficient way to detect who are ignorant and scandalous. _For Christ never wills any end, but he wills also all necessary and sufficient mean, conducing to that end._

Now what sufficient means can be propounded or imagined, for detection of ignorant or scandalous persons, but by examination before these Church-Officers; examination, we say, of the persons themselves in case of ignorance, and of witnesses also in the case of scandal. For though in some particular cases for private satisfaction, private conference with the Minister alone may sufficiently discover the knowledge or ignorance of persons, yet in this common case, for publique satisfaction touching the fitness of persons for the Lords Supper, no lesse then a publike and judicial examination before the Eldership can be sufficient; inasmuch as an authoritative act of admitting, or refusing the persons so examined, depends thereupon.

To illustrate this;

If a man by his last Will and Testament, should leave unto the Master and Fellows of a Colledge in trust a sum of money; to be distributed to hopeful poor schollars, such as were well verst in the learned Arts and Tongues: Would it not hence follow?

1. That those _Trustees_ have a power granted them by the Will, to examine those that come to desire that Legacie.

2. That if any refuse to be examined, or upon examination be found insufficiently qualified, they have authority to refuse them.

3. That the most sufficient, proper, and satisfactory way, is not to trust to Reports or Testimonials, but to examine the persons themselves that sue for such a Legacie: So in the present case, Jesus Christ hath left as a Legacie, the _Sacrament of his Body and Bloud_, and hath left the Church-Officers in trust with it, and hath said in his Will, That no grosly ignorant, or scandalous person ought to come to partake thereof; and if any come, that he be debarred from it by those Church-Officers. Hence it followeth inevitably.

1. _That those in trust have power to examine such as desire to partake of this_ Legacie, _whether they be of sufficient knowledg, and of good conversation, or no_. 2. _That they have power to refuse all such as either refuse to be examined, or upon examination, are found insufficient._ 3. _That if the Church Officers would give up their account with joy at the great day of judgment, they ought not to rest satisfied with private Reports or Informations of others; but to examine the persons themselves, that thereby they may faithfully discharge their trust in a matter of so great concernment_; And that they that will have the Sacrament, according to the will of Christ, ought first to submit themselves to such examination.

Besides this that hath been said, to prove that those that would come to the Sacrament ought first to submit to examination; We shall further offer these following Arguments.

1. We argue from that general exhortation of the Apostle, 1 _Pet._ 3.15. _But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear._

Now if Christians are bound to give an account of their Faith and hope to every one that asketh them, _yea even to heathen Persecutors_: how much more ought they to do it to the Officers of the Church? especially at such a time, when they desire to be admitted to an _Ordinance_ that is not common to all sorts of Christians, but peculiar to such as are indued with knowledg, and of an unblameable life and conversation.

2. _From that power that Jesus Christ hath seated in his Church, of examining such as are by the Will of Christ to be excommunicated from the Sacrament._ That there is a power of examining, in order to excommunication, appears from Matth. 18.16, 17. and from Revel. 2.2. where Christ commends [85]the Angel of the Church of _Ephesus_, _because he could not bear them which were evill, and had tryed them who said, they were Apostles, and were not, and had found them lyars_. This trying was not only _charitative_, and _fraternall_, but _authoritative_ and _judiciall_. For it was an act of the Angel of the Church; which Angel is not to be understood individually, [86]but collectively, for all the Angels in _Ephesus_. And that there were more Angels then one in _Ephesus_, appears from _Act._ 20.17. (The like may be said of the Angel of the Church of _Smyrna_, _Pergamus_, _Thyatira_, &c. for Christ speaks unto each Angel in the plural number, Rev. 2.10, 13, 14.)

From hence we argue, _If Iesus Christ hath given power Authoritatively, to examine such as are to be cast out from the Sacrament, then he hath also given power to examine such as are to be received in_. For there is the same reason of both. And as the power of excommunication would be wholly useless and frustraneous, if there were not a power of examination precedent thereunto; so would the power of keeping such as are grosly ignorant or scandalous, from the Sacrament, be utterly in vain, and of no benefit to the Church of Christ, if the power of examination should be denyed unto it. And certainly, whosoever is an enemy to this power, must be forced to grant, that it is the _Will of Iesus Christ_, that all sorts of people, though never so wicked, though actually drunk, though fooles, though Turks, Iews, or Heathen, are to be admitted to the Sacrament, if they come unto it.

_For if there be no divine right of Examination, or of rejection, how dare any Church or State assume a power of making rules for keeping any persons from the Sacrament?_ should they make rules for keeping ignorant and scandalous persons from the hearing of the Word, would it not be accounted a sin of an high nature? And is it not as great a sin to keep any from the Sacrament, if Christ hath left no power for the doing of it? is not this to be wise above what is written? And therefore let us either admit all sorts to the Sacrament, without any distinction of persons, and thereby become guilty of the body and blood of Christ, and accessary to the sins of those that come unworthily; (as hath been said, and formerly proved,) or else let us diligently and conscientiously examine all of all sorts, that desire to be made partakers of this distinguishing ordinance.

3. From the titles that are given to the Officers of the Church, and from the duty that God requires at their hands. The Officers of the Church are called _Rulers_ and _Governours_, & such as are _over their people in the Lord_. And it is their duty _to watch over the souls of their people, as such as must give an account for them into God_. Now it is all the reason in the world, that they that must _give an account to God for their people, should take an account of their people_; and that they that _watch over their souls, should know the state of their souls_. And that they that are _Governours, Rulers, and Overseers, should teach, instruct, try and examine those over whom they rule and govern_.[87]

[Sidenote: Quest.]

But you will say, who are these _Rulers and Governours_, by whom we are to be examined?

[Sidenote: _Answ._]

The Answer to this, will lead us to the third thing propounded; and that is to prove,

[Sidenote: The 3. Particular.]

_That the power of examining those that desire to be admitted to the Lords Supper, belongs not to the Minister alone, nor to the Minister with the whole Church, but to the Minister & Ruling Elders._

1. _Not to the Minister alone._ Indeed there is an examination, which belongs only to the teaching-Elder, and that is [88]a catechizing of his people in publique, by questions and answers; and this is part of the key of doctrine.

[Sidenote: _Non uni, sed unitati._]